Coffee Defects & How to Avoid Them: A Producer’s Guide

Producers, you need to be aware of coffee defects. They can affect the way your beans roast and taste, and as of such, their value. They may even cause you to lose contracts. Some defects are more dangerous than others; some are more widespread than others. But it’s important that you can recognize the most common ones, the impact they’ll have on your harvest, and how to prevent them. So, let’s take a look.

What Is a Coffee Defect?

A defect is any characteristic that doesn’t meet quality control standards, and can be the result of farm conditions, processing, or even roasting. Fortunately, producers can remove defective beans through sorting. But if a defect goes unnoticed, it will become apparent during roasting and coffee consumption.

There are different kinds of defects: primary ones (the worst ones) and secondary ones (which are still bad, but not as bad). For specialty coffee, a 300-gram sample should have zero primary defects and five or less secondary ones. You would expect commodity-grade coffee to have more defects per sample – “exchange-grade” coffee, for example, can have as many as 23.

And sometimes, you need up to five of the defects in question for it to be registered as a defect.

So, what are the different defects? This table from the FAO explains it all:

What Do Defects Mean for Producers?

Anne Lunell is the Co-Owner of Koppi Roasters in Sweden. She tells me, “Defects can have an impact on a producer’s future. If it is bad defects, the risk is that the coffee gets rejected and that the producers lose parts of their income.”

As a roaster, she avoids working with producers if there are too many defects in their lots. “We always hand sort our coffee after each roast,” she explains, “and of course the amount of defects affects the amount of time we have to spend doing this. If there are too many defects, we would likely not buy the coffee again. We have worked with the same producers for many years and them always delivering consistently high quality is an obvious reason. To know that the coffee is easy to work with (very few defects, well processed, keeps well over a long period of time etc ) is utterly important.”

For producers, following rigorous quality control to remove defects can be expensive; however, this is also one of the reasons why specialty coffee pays more than commodity-grade beans. The price premiums should in theory compensate the extra labor and equipment – assuming producers have the right know-how.

Common Green Bean Defects

There are many, many coffee defects that may affect a producer’s crop. Some of the most common defects that you need to be aware of, due to their impact on production and profitability, are:

1. Full Black & Partial Black Beans

How can you recognize them?

The coffee beans will look black or brown and shrivelled, while the crack down the middle will be too wide.

Why does it happen?

This is sometimes the result of a lack of development; Anacafé explains that fungal diseases and nutritional deficiencies can cause this. A lack of water during the growing period can be another cause. Alternatively, as Café de Colombia states, over-fermentation or over-ripe cherries picked from the ground, rather than the tree, can lead to full or partial black beans.

What effect does it have?

If one of these gets into a coffee lot, it will produce an “off flavor” and an unpleasant aroma. It has been described as creating a phenolic or fishy note; at other times, the beans can taste fermented.

What can you do?

Ensure proper plant nutrition and watering, pay attention to the development of fungal diseases, and be careful with fermentation.

The coffee will roast poorly, with the heat transferring unevenly through the beans. The result? An unbalanced, inconsistent flavor. Moreover, because the beans are cut open, they might develop other defects such as mold.

What can you do?

Look after your machinery and pay attention to moisture content and ripeness.

Coffee beans dry on a patio.

4. Quakers

How can you recognize them?

These are unripened, smaller beans with a low density. They’re hard to spot after depulping but are more noticeable once roasted, when they have a lighter color.

A bowl full of quakers that have been removed from a roast. Credit: Miguel Binetti

5. Insect Damage

How can you recognize it?

The green beans will typically have small holes; you can also see these on the cherry during picking.

Why does it happen?

A range of insects feeds on the coffee while it’s on the tree or during storage, the most widespread of which is the coffee berry borer. What’s more, because of the holes, mold may start to develop.

What effect does it have?

The impact will depend on the pest itself, but it can range from a muted flavor to sour notes.

What can you do?

Regularly inspect your crops for infestations, consider pesticides if you’re not an organic farmer, and use insect traps.

Coffee cherries ripen on the branch.

6. Fungus or Mold

How can you recognize it?

You can see white, yellow, grey, or red spores on the beans.

Why does it happen?

As you might expect, it all comes down to moisture: overly long fermentation periods, interruptions during drying, storing beans with a high moisture content… For this reason, producers in humid environments should be very cautious about using natural or honey processing methods. What’s more, damaged beans – broken ones or ones with insect holes – are more susceptible.

Mold will usually infect an entire batch of coffee, as the spores spread from one bean to another.

What effect does it have?

You can expect moldy, earthy, and over-fermented flavors in the cup.

What can you do?

Pay attention to humidity, only process naturals and honeys if you live in a suitable climate or have appropriate technology, take care if there is unexpected rain, remove insect/machine-damaged beans as early as possible, and sort quickly if you see any moldy beans.

7. Potato Defect

How can you recognize it?

It’s unfortunately very hard to notice the potato defect in green beans; producers should, instead, watch out for potential bug infestations – yes, this is actually another form of insect damage! However, it’s a particularly unusual one and requires different treatment

Why does it happen?

This is caused by the Antestia bug, which can be found in East Africa. Rwanda and Burundi are the most affected.

What effect does it have?

The roasted coffee tastes and smells of raw potato.

What can you do?

Regularly inspect your crops for infestations, consider pesticides if you’re not an organic farmer, and use insect traps.

Learning about coffee defects before cupping them. Credit: William Sue

General Tips for Avoiding Defects

We’ve already looked at specific techniques for each coffee defect. However, there are also some general tips that producers can follow to avoid these – and other! – defects from occurring. For a start:

Have a list of possible buyers so you can avoid storing coffee for too long

Of course, no two farms are the same. It’s also worth speaking to a local agronomist who can advise on your specific climate, terroir, and context.

A specialty cappuccino requires quality at every stage.

Avoiding defects and sorting coffee demands hard work, time, and labor – but if we want to access the specialty market, it’s imperative. As Anne says, “If you want to get paid more and target the speciality coffee roasters, quality is key.”